Cyber-Attack Steals 607,000 Records from Education Department
Hackers stole roughly 607,000 records from the Department for Education, with sensitive data appearing on the dark web, it emerged on Wednesday. Reports said the haul included teachers’ names and phone numbers, raising fresh concerns about the security of government systems. Officials were assessing the scale of the breach.
The theft is among the larger data breaches to strike a British government department in recent years, and it lands as ministers grapple with a rising tide of cyber-attacks on public bodies. Sensitive personal information exposed on the dark web can fuel fraud and identity theft for years, and questions will follow over how the department’s defences were penetrated. The Information Commissioner is likely to examine the response. For those affected, vigilance against scams is the immediate concern. Watch for confirmation of exactly whose data was taken and how.